Three elves and a baby
by Elven-Tear
Summary: .....I do not know why Estel and Arwen ever doubted we would be good babysitters..."
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine! It all belongs to Tolkien.

Beta: Fiondil and PeppyPower. Thank you so much!

Three elves and a baby

Chapter 1

"You are really sure you will get along with him?" King Elessar eyed his best friend and his brothers skeptically.

Legolas rolled his eyes "Mellon nîn, everyone of us has dealt with hundreds of orcs and you think we will not be able to handle one little baby."

Estel´s expression grew only more skeptical. He was not sure if the three knew what they had gotten themselves into. Orcs were one thing, a baby another.

Arwen wondered, too, if it was a good idea to leave Eldarion with the three bachelors, but when they had offered with great enthusiasm to babysit, the parents could not refuse. Just in case, the baby's nurse assured them that she would not be far.

The Queen´s gaze felt on the chess game Elladan was carrying. "What is that for?" she asked her brother, who looked confused about the question.

"Playing, of course. Just in case it will become a boring evening. And now leave. Your baby is in good hands."

"You will not be bored, I promise you, dear brother."

Six-month-old Eldarion was sleeping peacefully in his cradle, wich was lovingly made by Aragorn and Arwen had embroidered the bed canopy with many little, sparkling silver stars. The mother gave her child a soft kiss on the forehead, careful not to wake him and Aragorn caressed the brown hair-fluff on the baby´s head, before they hesitantly left.

The next ten minutes turned out to be pretty uneventful. Elrohir was sitting in a big chair next to the fire, from where he had a good view on the still sleeping Eldarion, and was reading one of the big, old books from Gondor´s great library. Legolas and Elladan were playing one of their endless chess games. It was a very comfortable evening - so far.

"I do not know why Arwen told us we will not have time for chess. What else should we do now? Twirl our thumbs?"

Legolas made his next move and shrugged. "You are right, Elladan. They should have more confidence in us. But I think it is normal that parents fuss so much over their children."

Elladan nodded in agreement and wanted to make his next move, but he was suddendly interrupted by a loud cry. All three elves were on their feet immediately and rushed to the cradle where Eldarion was now crying his little heart out.

"What happened, Elrohir?" the older twin asked his brother, who has been next to the cradle, with great concern.

Elrohir shook his head. "I do not know. One minute ago his was still asleep. Maybe he had a nightmare?"

"I am not sure if babies can have nightmares." Legolas said, looking doubtful. "I will take him. Maybe he woke and felt alone?"

Carefully he lifted the still screaming little boy out of the huge cradle, his face red with anger. "Hush, little one. All is well. Uncle Legolas is here. Hush."

His gently spoken words couldn't soothe the baby. It only seemed as if Eldarion was screaming even more. The blond elf gave the twins a helpless glance, seeking for help.

"Maybe his belly hurt," assumed Elladan. "Arwen told me that is very often the case and she showed me how to hold him then. Give him to me, Legolas. I will try it."

Legolas was visibly relieved as his friend took the crying baby out of his arms. He and Elrohir just stood there with arms hanging, feeling very helpless and watched as Elladan held the boy´s back to his stomach, shook him lightly and walked through the room with him.

The three elves were very relieved when the shrill cries begun to decrease and finally stopped completely. It had been an ordeal to their oversensitive ears.

"Well, that was not too bad. I do not know why Estel and Arwen ever doubted we would be good babysitters." Elladan was apperently proud that he had been able to calm the child so fast.

"Come on, Legolas. We can continue our chess game. I can play with Eldarion on my arm." With these words he sat down, not knowing he was making a bad mistake. The moment he made contact with the chair, the baby began to scream shrilly again.

TBC

Thank you for reading. I hope you liked it. Please review, I would be very glad.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you so much for all the nice reviews! Merry Christmas to all of you!

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. It all belongs to Tolkien.

Beta: Fiondil and PeppyPower

Chapter 2

Eldarion screams were deafening and he began to squirm in Elladan´s arms. The concerned elf was a very strong warrior, but he had all hands full not to drop the baby.

There was a loud bang when the child cleared the chessboard of most of its figures with a kick of his little legs. The artfully carved figures rolled all over the ground. Instinctively, the older twin rose from his chair and and attempted to grab the remaining chessmen while still holding the baby. The moment the dark-haired elf stood, the screams stopped and Eldarion looked suddently very content.

Legolas, who was now sitting under the table, picking up the chess figures, looked up. "Was that by chance, or did he really not want to sit?"

Elrohir was on his knees also looking doubtful. "It sounded as if something was seriously wrong, I do not think that was the reason, Legolas, but you should try, to make sure, El´"

Elladan was not sure if such an experiment would be of any help, but he did as he was told. He was pretty surprised when Eldarion begun to scream and squirm again. Before it became too much for his ears he rose again and was relieved when the child actually stopped screaming at once.

"It seems you will have to carry him around the whole night." Elrohir mocked his twin. "Come on Legolas, we will make ourselves comfortable while we watch El´walking around."

"With great pleasure." The blond elf replied with a big grin.

Pretending to be offended, Elladan eyed his friend and his twin, who were still on their knees, apparently looking for one of the pieces still missing.

"Oh, I think walking around is not as bad as changing diapers, and this is exactly what you two will do when it is necessary the next time." Satisfied, he recognized the disgusted expression on the other two elves' faces. They pretended to be completely absorbed in their search for the chess figure and in not having heard the threat of changing smelly diapers. Before Elladan could add something, he was interrupted by his brother, exclaiming, "I found it! It has rolled under the chair." They got up from the floor and the twin hastened to his book, since he did not want to give his brother a chance to raise the diaper-topic again. Legolas had the same intention and told the twins he was hungry "I will go to the kitchen and get us something to eat." With those words the blond elf left.

Slowly, Elladan walked through the room with a very curious baby on his arm. When they passed an old painting which showed some colorful birds bathing in the bright floods of Anduin, Eldarion squirmed and tried to get back to the nice colours. Before he began screaming again, the twin went back and watched the painting with the fascinated child, who tried to grab the birds. After a while the baby seemed to be bored and looked around, searching for another interesting thing and Elladan continued his excursion through the nursery.

After a while, Legolas returned with a very big plate full of strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry pastries. With a very disbelieving expression, Elrohir looked up from his fascinating book. "You do not really think the three of us are going to eat all of this? I do not know why good old Linnea has taken you so much into her heart since you devour her pastries all the time and she has to bake new ones."

The blond elf shrugged his shoulders innocently. "It is not my fault that she is the best cook in Arda, and by the way she filled the plate herself." He passed said object first to the younger twin and then to the poor, still walking Elladan. The twins agreed with their friend, never before they have eaten such juicy and sweet pastries in all their lives. Just when Elladan made his first bite of his delicious raspberry pie, Eldarion, still on the elf´s other arm, would not allow him to enjoy it. He begun to squirm and tried to catch the pastry with his little hands.

Legolas smiled at the baby´s cute attempts of grabbing the cake. "I think it would be mean to let him watch us eating the best sweets in Arda and to not give him some. Surely it cannot be bad for him to suck on a little piece. What do you think?" Elrohir swallowed his last bite and licked the rest of the blueberries from his fingers. "Actually, I agree with you, Legolas, but I wanted to feed him some stew last week and Arwen threatened to kill me if I continued. So, if you love your life I would not feed him anything but his mash. Our sister can be very furious when it comes to feeding her child." While they were talking, Eldarion had begun screaming again, because Elladan held his pastry too far away from him so that he could not reach it, and Legolas felt very sorry for the boy. "He is obviously hungry. We should get some oatmeal for him from the kitchen."

"I do not think he is actually hungry, since Arwen fed him just before they left. Maybe he just does not want to be the only one who is not eating. We should really get him some food, to make him stop screaming." While he spoke, Elladan cradled the boy in an useless attempt to calm him. The loud cries were rather painful to elven ears.

With a sigh, Elrohir finally closed his book and said "I will go to the kitchen. If we send Legolas, Linnea will just give him more pastries."

Before the wood-elf could give an answer, the twin had already left the room. Five minutes later he returned with a bowl full of oatmeal, flavoured with carrots and apples. In the meantime, Eldarion had calmed down a little, but not much. "If you sit down and hold him, El, I will feed him. Linnea wished us good luck. I wonder why? It cannot be awkward to feed a baby."

Elladan did as his twin told him. "No idea why she would say that." They dropped the matter and concentrated on their chores. Legolas bound a bib around the baby's neck. The cries had stopped since the child realized he would be fed now. Elrohir sat down opposite his twin and filled the spoon with oatmeal. Watching his friends, Legolas stood near the window and wondered what Linnea could have meant by wishing them good luck.

TBC

I hope you liked it! Please review!


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